Big 12 Weekly Preview: Texas Hosts Instate Rival Texas A&M

Photo Courtesy: Dan D'Addona

By Jason Tillotson.

It’s at this time of the year when the action around the NCAA begins to intensify. Swimmers are tired. Fall training has taken it’s toll. It’s at this time where athletes are tested the most as they face their rival teams.

That’s exactly what the Big 12 has in store this week.

Check below for a full breakdown of this week’s action.

Texas Hosts Annual Dual with Instate Rival Texas A&M

The University of Texas Longhorns will take on the Texas A&M Aggies in Austin, Texas this weekend in their annual dual meet, which always plays hosts to fast mid-season swims.

At last year’s rendition of the meet, on the men’s side the Aggies topped the Longhorns for the first time in 55 years, with a score of 142-158.

This year, the Longhorns will face similar struggles against the Aggies, with no real breaststroker on their roster.

Plus, Texas is coming off two major losses against Indiana (119-294) and Florida (175-178) from last weekend. The Aggies, however, have also lost their past two duals against Ohio State (153-199) and Alabama (132-149).

On the women’s side, both teams are coming in with much more momentum. The lady Longhorns steamrolled Florida and Indiana last weekend with scores of 222-126 and 201-147, respectively.

The lady Aggies also handily defeated their last two opponents, Ohio State and Alabama, with scores of 209-142 and 178-117, respectively.

Over the weekend, Townley Haas and Drew Kibler will likely have no problem in the mid-distance freestyle events for the men, as Evie Pfeifer and Joanna Evans will look to do the same for the women.

The Longhorns have a deep backstroke crew across both the women’s and men’s squads with Claire Adams, Quinn Carrozza, Ryan Harty and Austin Katz.

It’s in the breaststroke events where the Longhorns will begin to falter a bit. No matter how you slice it, Texas just doesn’t have a Will Licon, go-to guy anymore. The fastest male breaststroker on the roster, Charles Scheinfeld has posted times of 55.81 and 2:01.45 in the 100 and 200 breast this year, which isn’t much to write home about when the Aggies have Benjamin Walker who posted sub-55 and sub-2:00 last week against Alabama.

The lady Longhorns have a little less of a disadvantage in the breast events with Olivia Anderson, but outside of her, Texas will struggle.

Iowa State Faces Conference Rival TCU, at SMU

The Cyclones suffered a tough loss from Nebraska last weekend with a score of 115-184.

This weekend the Cyclones will rely heavily on their talents on the diving boards and in the butterfly events, to move past TCU and SMU.

Since the Cyclones have only a women’s team, their focus will be on just defeating the women’s squads for each TCU and SMU.

On the boards, lady Cyclone Dana Liva punched a ticket to Austin, Texas for the 2018 NCAA Zone Diving Championships with her performance against Nebraska last weekend. Her talents should help boost the Cyclones’ overall point tally.

In the pool, the sprint free duo of Martha Haas and Emily Haan should bring in some serious points for Iowa State.

Haas and Lehr Thorson will look to lead the Cyclones into battle with their breaststroke talents, though both SMU and TCU has stacked breaststroke rosters.

Kansas Travels to Lincoln to Battle Nebraska

The Kansas University Jayhawks are perhaps the team with the most momentum leading into this weekend. They approach their matchup with the Nebraska Cornhuskers with a record of 3-0, and some impressive early-season performances to boot.

Kansas narrowly defeated Nebraska last year with a score of 159-141.

Crissie Blomquist and Libby Walker will lead the Jayhawks in the distance free events, having posted the top two times from their dual with TCU last weekend.

Nebraska typically has a strong breaststroke squad, which will likely give Hayley Downey and Kate Steward, the Jayhawk breaststrokers, a tough swim for their money.

Lauryn Parish and Manon Manning are slated for the backstroke responsibilities this weekend and they produced a 1-2 finish against TCU last week.

Jenny Nusbaum will be a key factor to the Jayhawk relays, which should help KU get past Nebraska, although this annual showdown in usually a close one.

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use